{"id":13237,"date":"2021-11-16T09:51:49","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T09:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/?p=13237"},"modified":"2022-09-26T11:04:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T10:04:26","slug":"knowledge-is-power-how-one-institution-is-using-an-online-mentoring-platform-to-create-an-inclusive-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/knowledge-is-power-how-one-institution-is-using-an-online-mentoring-platform-to-create-an-inclusive-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge is Power: How One Institution is Using an Online Mentoring Platform to Create an Inclusive Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Stellenbosch University (SU) is a research-intensive public university in the Western Cape in South Africa. The University is spread over five campuses, with the main campus situated in the picturesque town of Stellenbosch in the heart of the Cape Winelands.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The vision of SU is to be Africa\u2019s leading research-intensive university, globally recognized as excellent, inclusive, and innovative, where knowledge is advanced in service of society.\u00a0 SU is committed to the idea of an inclusive world-class university in and for Africa.<\/p>\n

In support of SU\u2019s values of excellence, compassion, and equity, and with a focus on being an employer of choice, various projects support transformation, staff development and academic leadership development.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I sat down with Dr Margaret Orr and Almene Potgieter, both full-time internal leadership coaches at the university.\u00a0 They serve as a resource available to leaders and managers to support their personal and professional effectiveness. As part of their mandate, Margaret and Almene were also involved in the creation of an online mentoring platform \u2013 SUNMentor – \u00a0for all SU staff.<\/p>\n

SUNMentor offers a space where individuals can both offer and seek out advice, support, and wisdom across a range of professional and personal challenges.\u00a0 It aims to create an informal mentoring community for generally shared wisdom and experience, while also offering a range of very specific and more formal mentoring programmes where staff can look for a mentor around specific skills or roles. We are thrilled to be part of this journey.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Knowledge is Power<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Before the SUNMentor platform, there was no single system in place where a staff member could find a mentor.\u00a0 Although various formal and informal mentoring offers were available, these were hosted on various small platforms, often using spreadsheets and administratively cumbersome manual processes.<\/p>\n

Margaret and Almene wanted to bring all these formal and informal mentoring programmes under one roof and extend the mentoring offer to all staff \u2013 thereby creating a mentoring community that brought everyone together.\u00a0 This became even more important during the loneliness and isolation of remote working during the recent years of the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cLockdown emphasized the isolation that staff felt, and they did not know who to turn to.\u00a0 We wanted to offer a space where people could feel supported and have a sense of community\u201d \u2013 Almene<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The way the SUNMentor platform has been conceptualized is that it is open to all staff, a place where people can freely admit when they don\u2019t know something; a place where wisdom is democratized, inclusive and accessible.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has something to learn and everyone has something to teach. And sometimes you just need to be able to ask the dumb questions!\u201d \u2013 Margaret<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since the pilot launch of the platform, various formal mentoring programmes and discussion groups have been added \u2013 with a breadth of scope ranging from psycho-social support to academic career mentoring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bespoke training and delivery<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Aluminate developed a bespoke training package for Margaret and Almene.\u00a0 This allowed collaborative training sessions with our client support team but also incorporated \u2018sandbox testing\u2019 to allow them to streamline the platform build and delivery timeline.\u00a0 They also ran various pilot projects with internal stakeholders and groups.<\/p>\n

Margaret and Almene also worked with our in-house consultancy team to develop a bespoke set of KPI metrics and are developing a gradual launch process.<\/p>\n

They hope to have the platform open to all staff by mid- 2022. We will be checking in with Margaret and Almene later in 2022 to see how the SU mentoring community and the SUNMentor platform is developing.<\/p>\n

If you would like to know more about how our in-house consultancy team can help with your community management, get in touch today for a free strategy session.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Our team will be more than happy to show you how Aluminate Community Builder can help your organization grow and manage your community more effectively.\u00a0 Book a demo today to find out more!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Stellenbosch University (SU) is a research-intensive public university in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":13242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-client-stories","category-ementoring"],"yoast_head":"\nKnowledge is Power: How One Institution is Using an Online Mentoring Platform to Create an Inclusive Community - Aluminati Network Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/knowledge-is-power-how-one-institution-is-using-an-online-mentoring-platform-to-create-an-inclusive-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Knowledge is Power: How One Institution is Using an Online Mentoring Platform to Create an Inclusive Community - 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